Happy college football prediction month!

July is when preseason projections hit for the upcoming season.

The Colorado State football team is approaching the first preseason camp under new coach Jim Mora, which brings hopes of a new beginning after the Rams went 2-10 in 2025.

Here's a look at how some of the national outlets project the Rams to fare in 2026:

Athlon Sports

The national college football magazine projection for 2026 picks CSU to finish seventh in the eight-team league.

Tight end Juice Vereen is the only Ram Athlon projects to be first-team all-conference. The magazine also lists Vereen as its No. 10 in the top transfers section.

Oklahoma State transfer Hauss Hejny is the No. 3 player in Athlon's top transfers, with the magazine saying, "Hejny is a former blue-chip recruit who showed promise for the Cowboys."

The magazine projects Boise State to beat San Diego State in the Pac-12 title game. It does not project a bowl appearance for CSU.

Phil Steele

Steele has one of the most well-known college football preview magazines. He also projects CSU seventh ahead of only Oregon State in the Pac-12.

Steele on the QB room, led by Hejny and UConn transfer K'saan Farrar: "Despite the inexperience, this unit should top last year's stats."

Mora will "have to work his magic" in the offensive line room, Steele says, due to just eight career starts within the group. On the defensive line, Steele says that unit is the strength of the team "with great depth."

Steele says Mora will "craft a run-oriented offense as (tight end) is the strength" and that the offense should "top last year's numbers by over a TD per game."

Overall, Steele says CSU is "stronger on both sides of the ball" and that the Rams are improved and "will win more games but it looks like a rebuilding year. Can Mora work another miracle?"

Betting odds

Some early win total betting lines for CSU include BetMGM with an over/under line of 3.5 wins for the Rams and FanDuel listing CSU with a line of 4.5 wins.

ESPN

ESPN's FPI computer model has the Rams last in the Pac-12 with a win-loss projection of 3.6 wins and 7.5 losses. Basically, that means ESPN's model projects between three and four regular season wins for CSU.

How do these rankings compare to a year ago?

Offseason projections get trickier every year in this era of college football with immense roster changes each season. That's especially true in the case of CSU ahead of the 2026 season, where a new head coach means about a 75% roster turnover.

So, projections are to be taken with caution. A look at the picks from a year ago show why.

• Athlon: Projected CSU fifth in the Mountain West, to play for a bowl and that QB Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi "should compete for All-Mountain West honors."
• Steele: Projected CSU fifth in the MW as well.
• Betting odds: Projected CSU to win six or seven regular season games.
• ESPN: Projected CSU to win six or seven games.
• Reality: In the end, CSU went 2-10, finished last in the MW, Fowler-Nicolosi was benched and eventually left the team, and coach Jay Norvell was fired.

Sports reporter Kevin Lytle can be found on social media on X, Instagram and Threads @Kevin_Lytle and on Bluesky.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado State football 2026 outlook from national experts